Vogue
|Revolvy.com://Ball culture> :"Ball culture, the house system, the ballroom community and similar terms describe an underground LGBT subculture in the United States in which people "walk" (i.e., compete) for trophies and prizes at events known as balls. Some who walk also dance; others compete in drag categories, designed to emulate other genders and social classes. Most participants in ball culture belong to groups known as "houses"." :"Houses serve as alternative families, primarily consisting of Black and Latino gay, gender nonconforming and transgender youth, and are meant to be safe spaces.3 Houses are led by “mothers” and “fathers,” providing guidance and support for their house “children.”4 Most houses operate in the same way. Houses exist across the United States and in over 15 cities, most being in the northeast. The major cities are New York, Newark, Jersey City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.,5 as well as Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area. Houses that win a lot of trophies and gain recognition, reach a rank of "legendary."6 Notable houses include House of Ninja (founded by Willi Ninja), House of Aviance (founded by Mother Juan Aviance),7 House of Xtravaganza (founded by Hector Xtravaganza, né Hector Valle), House of Princess, House of Infiniti, House of Mizrahi (founded by Jack and Andre Mizrahi), House of LaBeija (founded by Crystal LaBeija),891011 House of Dupree (founded by Paris Dupree), House of Amazon (founded by Leoimy Maldonado),12 House of Mugler (founded by David, Raliegh and Julian),13 House Balenciaga (founded by Harold Balenciaga), House of Ebony (founded by Larry Ebony), and the House of Garcon14 (founded by Whitney and Shannon Garcon). Typically house members adopt the name of their house as their last name.15 Historically, four categories of gender exist within houses: Butch queens, femme queens, butches, and women." House of Ninja Willi Ninja https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi_Ninja :"Willi Ninja (April 12, 1961 – September 2, 2006) was an American dancer and choreographer best known for his appearance in the documentary film Paris is Burning.1 :Ninja, a gay man known as the godfather of voguing,2 was a fixture of ball culture at Harlem's drag balls who took inspiration from sources as far-flung as Fred Astaire and the world of haute couture to develop a unique style of dance and movement.1 He caught the attention of Paris is Burning director Jennie Livingston, who featured Ninja prominently in the film. The film, a critical and box office success, served as a springboard for Ninja. He parlayed his appearance into performances with a number of dance troupes and choreography gigs. The film also documents the origins of "voguing", a dance style in which competing ball-walkers freeze and "pose" in glamorous positions (as if being photographed for the cover of Vogue magazine). In 1989, Ninja starred in the music video for Malcolm McLaren's song "Deep in Vogue", which sampled the then-unfinished movie and brought Ninja's style to the mainstream. One year after this, Madonna released her number one song "Vogue", bringing further attention to the dancing style." :"Born William Roscoe Leake at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, Willi was a self-taught dancer and was perfecting his voguing style by his twenties. Willi was born to a Black mother, and was of mixed racial heritage, claiming to have Irish, Cherokee, and Asian ancestry in his family.3 It was from fellow voguers in Washington Square Park that Jennie Livingston first heard his name. While he didn't create the form, he worked at refining it with clean, sharp movements to "an amazing level". His influences included Kemetic hieroglyphics, young Michael Jackson, Fred Astaire, olympic gymnasts, and Asian culture." :"Willi Ninja started the House of Ninja in 1982 despite not having been part of a house previously or winning three grand prizes, which was generally seen as a requirement to start a house.67 The name Ninja came from the house’s Asian and martial arts influences coupled with the fact that people in the ballroom scene did not know who they were and they “seemed to come out of nowhere”.8 The House of Ninja had a reputation for being multiracial; most houses at the time were African-American, with the notable exception of the Latinx House of Xtravaganza.8 The House of Ninja notably included white men in their competitions. The House of Ninja disbanded in 1988, and despite an attempt by Ninja to reform in 1989, remains a defunct house of Ball Culture." House of Corey Dorian Corey (TW: misgendering pronouns) A brief history of voguing - Culture - Mixmag https://mixmag.net/feature/a-brief-history-of-voguing :"Though the winner only received a trophy, the real prize was the sense of achievement and acceptance that came from it. As Dorian Corey, Mother of the House Of Corey, says in Paris Is Burning, “In Ballroom we can be whatever we want. It is our Oscars – our chance to be a superstar.”" Dorian Corey - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorian_Corey Corey was also the founder of the voguing House of Corey. He held over fifty grand prizes from the voguing balls. He was also "house mother" to Angie Xtravaganza, who later became a "mother" of her own house (and was also in Paris Is Burning). Occupation: Drag queen, fashion designer Born: Frederick Legg; c. 1937; Buffalo, New Yo... https://www.revolvy.com/page/Dorian-Corey https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/dorians-closet-musical_us_5909c9f8e4b05c3976849b9a (TW: murder, frivolous portrayals of a complex person, dead body) |NYTimes:/Green1993/Paris Has Burned> (TW: reference to coerced sex work, AIDS and trans poverty) :"At 55 -- "Put me down as 27 and say it's a two-for-one sale, honey," -- Dorian comes from a different age of drag than most of the others in "Paris Is Burning." "These children, it's a new world now. Most of them make their money turning tricks. It's that or starve! I myself" -- she pulled off her red shift and shimmied into a sequined floor-length magenta dress with rhinestone spaghetti straps -- "am lucky to have avoided all that. I'm an old farm girl, from Buffalo, and when you've had that healthy beginning, you don't go the same way." :Dorian slipped into a pair of gold pumps, then poured jewelry from a bag onto the Formica counter. "And today it's so risky, with the almighty shadow opening the door." She arched one enormous eyebrow in deference to AIDS. "Even I have to the worry. I've had such a torrid past. So now I'm a VCR queen, if you know what I'm saying. You don't have to give a VCR breakfast."" House of St. Laurent Octavia St. Laurent (coming soon) House of Xtravanganza Angie Xtravaganza |Revolvy.com://Angie Xtravaganza> :"Angie Xtravaganza (October 17, 1964 – March 31, 1993) was born in New York City. Angie was a founding member and the Mother of the House of Xtravaganza. Consistent with the tradition of New York's gay ball scene, in 1982 Angie took the House name as her surname. A transgender performer, underground superstar and an active member of New York's gay ball culture, Angie was featured in Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary film Paris is Burning. By the time the documentary screened to rave reviews, the House of Xtravaganza, the first primarily Latino house within New York's gay ball scene, was almost ten years old and had taken the Harlem ball scene by storm. :Arriving on the streets of New York City at the age of 13, Angie nurtured a family of "children" during her days on the lower westside Navy Pier and the streets of Times Square. Throughout the 1980s and until her death in 1993 Angie and her adopted house children would influence popular culture through the nightlife scene, the performing arts and through the fashion and the recording industries. In 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Cunningham wrote "The Slap of Love" about Angie after interviewing her and her sons Danni and Hector Xtravaganza for his novel Flesh and Blood. :Angie died in New York at age 28 from an AIDS-related liver disease. Almost three weeks later The New York Times published an article on the ball scene on the front page of the Sunday "Styles" section, featuring a large photo of Angie Xtravaganza. Entitled "Paris Has Burned" TW: descriptions of trans murder, transphobic rhetoric circa 1993, Biological Essentialism), the article recounted the current status of the underground ball scene and the untimely passing of many of its central personalities." |NYTimes:/Green1993/Paris Has Burned> :"Though she was only 27, Angie had been a mother more than a dozen times. Not in the usual way; she was biologically male. "But a mother is one who raises a child, not one who borns it," Hector pointed out. And as mother of the House of Xtravaganza, Angie had taken many rejected, wayward, even homeless children under her wing; she had fed them, observed their birthdays, taught them all about "walking the balls." Competing in categories like High-Fashion Eveningwear and Alexis vs. Krystle, Angie was legendary, a Queen among queens, achieving in fantasy what the world had denied her in reality. :Drag balls, the product of a poor, gay and mostly nonwhite culture, had been held in Harlem since the 1920's. But it wasn't until Jennie Livingston's award-winning documentary, "Paris Is Burning," was released in 1991 that anyone outside that world knew much about them. By then it was almost too late. For Angie Xtravaganza, such fame as she achieved in the two years following the film's release could not be savored: the AIDS-related liver disease that eventually killed her was already destroying her hard-won femininity. "She had spots all over, like a Dalmatian," Hector said. "And she had to stop taking the hormones that made her look soft, because they're what really ate her up."" :"Paris is no longer burning. It has burned. And not only because of the casualties. No one needs to go to a ball to see drag anymore: Dame Edna Everage has television specials, Ru Paul mugs on the covers of magazines, fashion shows feature drag acts on the runway. No one needs to go to a ball to see voguing either, not since Madonna gobbled it up, appropriating two Xtravaganzas in the process. Once mainstream America began to copy a subculture that was copying it, the subculture itself was no longer of interest to a wider audience, and whatever new opportunites existed for the principals dried up. After one show last year at the jazz club Sweetwaters, Octavia St. Laurent, for instance, returned to dancing behind glass at the Show Palace. And the balls, which had moved downtown in their moment of fame, have mostly moved back to Harlem." Hector Xtravaganza (coming soon) Category:Dance Category:New York Category:Transgender Category:Black Culture Category:Queer People Category:Queer Culture Category:Vogue